Various Artists – Eurovision Song Contest Malmo 2013 – CD review

Various Artists
Eurovision Song Contest Malmo 2013

And so it comes to pass that the Eurovision Song Contest is upon us once more.  Sad to say, as a Eurovision fanatic, but the last few years have been less than stellar, both in terms of songs and presentations.  So is Malmo 2013 the one to make things right?  Well, the short answer is no.

I’ve immersed myself in all 39 tracks over the last week, and it seems that the theme this year is dull as ditchwater ballads sung by anonymous journeymen and women.  I can only hope that the sem-finals sort out some of the wheat from the chaff, or we could be in for another tranquillised evening.

So where is the good stuff?  Well, the absolute highlight comes from Montenegro.  I can only assume they’ve got some high quality, leftover nineties illegal highs over there, if their spaced out astronaut dance steps are anything to go by.  Tune!  If you’re looking for something vaguely contemporary (and by that I mean 2011) then go for The Netherlands who give us Anouk performing ‘Birds’.  Sweet.

Elsewhere, the Irish have got themselves sorted out with Ryan Dolan, and Greece have sewn up the Glaswegian vote with Koza Mostra & Agathon Iakovidis performing the very enjoyable ‘Alcohol is Free’.  If you absolutely have to vote for a ballad, then make it the Ukrainian one fro Zlata Ognevich.  Somehow Denmark have ended up the odds on favourites with the bookies, but ‘Only Teardrops’ by Emmelie de Forest only induces somnambulistic tendencies round my way.  As for Her Majestys Great British entry, all I will say is that it makes Engelbert sound good.

I’ll still be watching but probably with the volume turned off.

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Go Montenegro!